I wrote this post on Monday expressing how pleased I was that the government were finally going to be backing down over the DNA database, and removing the 800,000 odd innocent people that currently have profiles. Then they announce today that they are going to do nothing of the sort. Profiles of innocent people will be [...]
The latest developments in the Gurkha saga, with the immigration minister in full retreat duringan impromptu press conference, showed how much the Government is in disarray and that not only are they out of touch with ordinary people but they have become so arrogant that they no longer care what ordinary people think. On June 4th you will have the chance to show them what we do think, and across the country Labour councillors are braced for massive losses. Here in Broxtowe the Lib-Dems already hold half the county seats and we're going all out to win the rest of ...
The government's decision to plough ahead with the introduction of the ID cards pilot scheme in Greater Manchester is foolhardy, bloody-minded and a complete waste of time, something which even the government themselves must have realised by focussing their message on the fact you'll be able to buy them through the Post Office, and through [...]
Some good news to report: officers from Labour-run Reading Borough Council have confirmed to me today that RBC has joined the Campaign for Fair and Local Housing Finance. This campaign is made up of a cross-party group of councils from across the country who's mission statement is as follows: "We want Government to end the broken system of housing subsidy, which penalises the majority of councils, and allow us to spend the rent our tenants pay on improving their homes and communities, rather than paying it as an extra tax to the Treasury." This group of councils, including Lib-Dem controlled Portsmouth ...
This morning I chaired a meeting to launch the report of the international lawyers' human rights delegation to Colombia, in Committee Room 6 of the Commons. Alirio Uribe is President of the Lawyers' Collective in Colombia, and a former vice president of the FIDH. Other speakers were Sarah Chandler, a member of the Law Society International Human Rights Committee; Ole Hanson, a member of the Law Society's Access to Justice Committee, and Gillian Merron MP, the FCO Minister who deals with Colombia and is visiting the country in a couple of weeks' time. Although the Colombian authorities are relatively open ...
I'm down in London, ready for a meeting tomorrow, and not wanting to be up at 5.00 am decided to get some research done in the British Library on Brass Crosby (note the Council is not paying for the hotel bill - me that doesn't want to get up that early !). What a wonderful time I had in the library. It would be worth going to even if no research to do, just to get the atmosphere, see teh...
Back in July 2005 I contributed this column to Clinical Psychology Forum, signing it "Professor Strange" - a sort of academic cousin of Lord Bonkers. Trainspotting, autism and what it means to be normal Saturday afternoon on Platform 1. Freight trains and passenger trains coming and going. My notebook filling with engine numbers. The packet of sandwiches that Mother made me. The summer sunshine burning my bare knees. An excited shout goes up. I rush to join the throng and taste again the oily tang of steam. Yes, I enjoyed my visit to York last Saturday and may well go ...
Eurovision 1988 - awful outfit; good song!
A super event, taking place on Sunday 17th May ... click on headline above to read more!
I recently came accross this attempt by Chris Keene to rank the top 50 UK universities, using a combined score from all the popular rankings. As he points out, his method isn't statistically robust, but its not meant to be, its just a simple and interesting way to look at how universities compare. I've taken Chris' work a small step further. Insofar as I've (a) colour-coded the total and individual ranks so that an instant visual idea of a university's performance can be obtained. (b), I've seperated the ranks of universities by type of ranking system: UK-only, UK-only & International, ...
Anyone who has run a local election campaign will know that it is not the level of support you have that matters but the number of supporters you can get to the polling station. With turnouts as low as 6% in some wards, getting a couple of dysfunctional families on side can make all the difference between winning and losing. There is therefore still a slither of hope for Labour on June 4th, so long as they can motivate their supporters to go out and vote. This has got me thinking about how they do it. What would be the ...
Labour flat-liningThe polls make painfully hard reading for the Labour party at the moment. Treading water on 28% is not where a government wants to be. It will only take a small fall by a percent or two and Labour will be flat lining, relying solely on their core vote: the sort of voters who [...]
Well, I've seen nothing like it before and it reads more like a plot for a tv drama rather than real life. But Joanna Lumley was not acting today when she confronted and flattened Phil Woolas. Not even John Major's government got kicked about like that. I'm sure it was a sobering experience for Woolas.---Sent via BlackBerry
I've just seen a list of the candidates for the Cornwall and the big news is... there isn't a single Labour candidate in the whole of the North Cornwall constituency. To me that's quite incredible. I know that this is not one of Labour's strong areas - even in Cornwall this is their weakest seat. But to fail to find a single candidate for Council in the whole of the constituency really does beggar belief. Are they really so run down and dispirited that they couldn't find one person to go out onto the doorsteps and find ten signatures - ...
Baron Steel of Aikwood will be flying the yellow flag on BBC's Question Time tonight on behalf of the Lib Dems - BBC1 2235 and online. He'll be joined by the Tory MP the unkind call "Mad Nad", Nadine Dorries; Labour leader in Scotland Iain Gray [ed please check spelling of both names]; Deputy First Minister of Scotland (and what an ungainly title that is) Nicola Sturgeon MSP for the Scot Nats; and Independent columnist and Cameron cheerleader Bruce Anderson. A lively debate usually takes place on Twitter as well as in the studio - and you can watch that ...
The Social Liberal Forum, not my favourite of websites, has just published a truly dreadful article by Layla Moran on School Choice. I tried to submit a comment but I've been told that 'my comment is awaiting moderation' - hardly a very liberal mechanism. Anyway, if they don't publish it, this is what I said: This isn't liberalism, this is communism - a truly awful justification for the state knows best. While you are at it why don't you tell me what I should eat, what I should wear, what I should listen to and who I should date. It ...
Questions to the Finance Minister in the Welsh Assembly yesterday were fairly hard-hitting with opposition politicians seeking to get to the bottom of how the Government are going to deal with a £400 million cut in their budget next year. Throughout the session the Minister argued that the Government needed to be agile in the face of a difficult economic situation, that the Government could accomodate the cuts through efficiency savings despite evidence to the contrary and continuously stonewalled any attempts to get more detail. It was summed up by this exchange in which the Minister adopted a tactic first ...
A colleague of mine in the Lib Dem group in Gateshead passed this on to me and I was rather amused by it. I will not mention names or locations but here goes. My colleague was delivering some Focus leaflets recently, one of which went through the door of the Labour councllor for the ward where my colleague was delivering. Inside Focus was a story about a local issue we were taking up. Moments
A letter hits the doormat from Mid Suffolk District Council. With haste, I open it and, lo and behold, my valid nomination as a candidate for Upper Gipping Electoral Division is confirmed. Let battle commence!
Judging by the Today programme this morning, we may be moving into a different phase of the financial crisis. The opportunities for serious reform of the system may slowly be slipping away, and I'm frustrated that the party is still peddling what seems to me to be the wrong position on the banks. Yes, we are calling for a UK version of the Glass-Steagall Act, separating investment banking from high street banking. That seems to be a bare minimum. But the basic proposal is that we should use the government's partial ownership of the banks to force them to lend ...
Live Chat thread is here. All are welcome.
Thu 7th
19:26
Coatham Links development - MP's disassociate themselves from objectors campaign tactics
The following has been posted on Redcar and Cleveland Council's web-site: Coatham EnclosureStatement published by Vera Baird MP (6th May 2009) "I know that most Redcar people support the Coatham Links development and want it to start as soon as possible. I have had doubts in the past about the number of houses to be built there, versus the amount of leisure facilities. But things like the fantastic new "MyPlace" seafront youth centre have tipped the balance. Coatham Links should be a great boost to Redcar, bringing more new people here and giving us all a leisure centre, swimming pool ...
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the launch of the Eco-op, and I appealed for photos as I had left my camera behind. Thanks to Bart Ricketts, the Project Co-ordinator, who supplied these: Here is Susan Kramer MP in the cycle repair workshop. And fellow MP, Edward Davey looks around the Furniture Project, accompanied by (on left) Bart...
My wife said to me as the UKIP election broadcast was being broadcast, "Why is the voice over sounding like it is being broadcast as a programme for school children ?". A good point, and after rewinding it on Sky+, I couldn't help but agree. A slow deliberate slightly condescending voice over with some rather amateurish graphics spoke as if the person watching is a little bit thick. Explaining rather simple facts slowly, like someone was explaining to their grandmother how to use digital TV for the first time. Rather bizarrely and in complete contrast, Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, ...
This isn't the most obvious thing and in fact i only spotted it by accident. I was photographing round Holly Hill, Hampstead, NW3 and decided to capture the Junior Branch of University College School (JB, UCS) - of which I am a Governor. And there on the pavement in the railing is a splendid original iron post. It reads: St. Johns Hampstead B. Griffin - & - J. Kelly 1828 St Johns is the parish of the church in Hampstead and it's a great little survivor of times gone by. The post now is 180 years old which makes you ...
Mrs Mahon resigned from the LABOUR Party because of the Governments failure to deliver on promises in the 2006 Labour Manifesto Making Her LIFE OUT OF A PAMPHLET. Blears latest political stunt. The city's poor epilepsy service.. Peeling away our green belt... We Don't need more chippies. Are you listening the planing Department? Make the binge drinkers pay. I never know [...]
It seems that travellers have once more taken residence on Vine Street. This happened almost exactly three years ago. The problem is that the site is owned by three different owners in a complex patchwork. Last time, they were able to keep moving around the land between the various areas of ownership as each order was served. As Manchester is one of those local Councils which does have provision for travellers (and only a couple of miles away), there isn't really justification for staying on land which has no facilities at all for providing water, waste or refuse collection. Hopefully, ...
Nominations for the European Elections were announced today. A quick scan down the candidates threw up something that caught my eye. The Tories have (like everyone else in Wales) four candidates. Three of them live in England. The top three. Sometimes, for good reason, people find it hard to be in an area. But all three of them is at best a bit unfortunate for the Tories. After all how can you be
Yesterday afternoon I met a delegation from the Khaddam Almahdi Organisation (KMO), see below, comprising Sheikh Yasser Al Habib; Sheikh Ali Maash; Mr Mohammed Salah; Mr Hamid Rabie, and Sayyed Ali Al Nawab, for a discussion about the violence by the religious and local police against Shi'a pilgrims at the site of the Holy Prophet's burial on February 26 and the days after that. The religious police, motivated by the Wahhabi ideology which forbids the veneration of holy sites, have destroyed the Prophet's tomb and other sacred monuments , not only in Medina but in other parts of Saudi Arabia, ...
Wasn't it nice to see Labour Minister Phil Woolas looking embarrassed and unsure of himself when outflanked and our campaigned by Joanna Lumley on the Ghurkas issue today. Phil Woolas is know to many Lib Dems as the man who allowed his campaign for election in 1995 to become dominated by innuendo, questionable electoral practises and ultimately saw the start of the way Labour had campaigned for the last 14 years. "Never let the truth get in the way of a chance to win votes", has been Labour's mantra since the 1995 by-election in Littleborough and Saddleworth, and in 1997 ...
LJ folks! There seems to be a bit of confusion, so I'll just restate: I have now enabled anonymous comments, so you can comment anonymously if you don't want to use your LJ url to log in with open ID. You do not need a DW account to comment. I had anon commenting disabled before, but it caused some people probs logging in with open ID, so I have enabled it now. Only four spam comments so far... It is Liberal Drinks tonight. I have lots of stuff to do, but instead, I am going out on the razz. I ...
All, The Liberal Democrats have a clear and concise manifesto for these elections which can be read here. If you would like to talk to me about our policies, or what we want for the Shipston area, including villages such as Brailes, Long Compton and Stretton, then please contact me at any time. My mobile number is 07595 362637. Regards, Philip
Quote of the day from @AIannucci (otherwise known as Armando Iannucci). Who is the twat-thumper who put me down as a 'contributor' to the Government's weep-rag LabourList? I want his or her cock for a salad. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
A Poll by Politics Home that has been covered by Political Betting asked the question: "Which of the following would make the best Prime Minister and leader of the Labour party?" and the poll results are interesting as you can see below: STRAW 16% JOHNSON 13% MILIBAND-D 8% HARMAN 6% PURNELL 1% MILIBAND-E 1% CRUDDAS 1% SMITH 1% MCDONNELL 1% COOPER 1% BURNHAM 1% Now I am among the people who have always said that if Labour were to have a leadership election then it would have to be a bruiser or old school Labour politician who would take over ...
In my Monday post about icons, I gave replacement codes for the 5 icons that DW commonly uses as well as the 3 that LJ commonly uses. I missed one that DW uses, namely direct links to LJs using the new custom site code. If you didn't know, rather than the old [lj-user="matgb"] code, DW has replaced it with [user name="matgb"], ie removing the LJ bit given, obviously, it's not on LJ. But cunningly, they've also added another option, if you code [user name="matgb" site="livejournal.com"] it will link to matgb on LJ, not DW. And it'll take the LJ usericon ...
Readers will recall that we broadly stayed out of the whole Draper/McBride/Dale/Guido blog war on this site. This wasn't so much deliberate choice as an undiscussed humdrum content decision, since there wasn't even a bit part for a Liberal Democrat anywhere in the whole affair, and we try not to blog about blogging too much. So any coverage we did offer would have largely been of the popcorn-and-laughter variety. Folk who read here would know where to go to get their Drapergate fix; we were in no way best placed to deliver it. But we did take an interest in ...
The Live Chat for BBC's Question Time will start here from 10:30pm this evening. See you later! BBC Question Time - 07/05/2009
I've been racking my brains to think of any benefits an ID card could give me that would be worth spending £60 on. If I was a terrorist, criminal or benefit cheat, I guess it would only be the decent thing to get one and give the authorities a fair chance at catching me. But I'm not (not that I'm admitting, anyway). Like most people, I don't spend much of my time opening bank accounts. It's a once-every-few-years sort of event if I'm being honest. Might I cough up sixty quid, and go through the whole registration process, if it ...
The Parliament is meeting in Strasbourg and I have an evening meeting with the Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, to talk about carbon capture and storage. Strasbourg is a good place to meet with European Commissioners. A meeting of 'the college' takes place whenever the Parliament is in session here, and they often have a bit of time on their hands as they wait around to take part in a debate. His office is five floors above my own, and I am there in 2 minutes. As usual with Commissioner's offices here it is stark, furnished only with a desk, a ...
A week ago today, it was polling day in a key by-election in Harlow, a key Lib Dem / Tory marginal. The result was a win for the Lib Dems from the Tories on a swing of 10.5%. Here Lorna Spenceley, Lib Dem parliamentary spokeswoman for Harlow, tells Lib Dem Voice how it happened... In one sense, if we hadn't won this by-election we should have been shot. The circumstances were not at all propitious for the Conservatives, who had gained the seat from us in May 2008. Within five months of his election, the successful Tory candidate was on ...
Thu 7th
15:12
Thank you to the BNP supporters who keep sending kind comments i thought i would print one!
Far better the BNP than people who support Hitler like the corrupt raciust child raping organlegging genocidal Nazis who make up the self syled "LibDems Well we have a mix of supporters in the Liberal Democrats from Doctors to Postmen, Practice nurses etc but the above no not seen any yet to match this description, [...]
This reason was floated around by a socialist and because it got me thinking and it made me giggle a little I thought I would post it on the blog. If David Cameron was the Prime Minister then the country would have one benefit which would be that the Civil Servants would get on with the ministers, why you might ask? Here is the reason. Near enough all of Cameron's cabinet all went to the same school or university as Cameron and are all stuck up posh Tories who don't consider the working class as anything but a potential vote ...
As I blogged yesterday Derek Draper was to leave LabourList well that has happened today so I would like to welcome the new editor Alex Smith who has taken over from Derek Draper. I am sorry to bring this up in the middle of the blog post but isn't it a coincidence that Labour have another well known blogger by the name of Alex, the Monkey Alex Hilton. Any way the advice that I can give to LabourList is that they stop taking donations from the Union Unite and start raising money via events e.g. pizza and politics events and ...
If you're going to change what I've written, after it's already been through the Netcast editor and been posted, and without consulting me, but leave my name on it, then I want no further part of this site. It's not the first time you've done it, and I'm not the only person you've done it [...]
How on earth have I managed to contract an ear infection when I have been stuck at home with Glandular Fever for weeks and nobody, not even my husband, will come within 6 feet of me for fear of catching what I've got? This particular bug seems to be called a "Yuck". At least that's what the GP said when she looked into my ear. Oh well, more antibiotics for me. I am one of these very pathetic souls who can't swallow tablets, so I have foul tasting medicine. My daughter hasn't had antibiotics very often in her life but ...
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is ready to give the green light to start the design and construction of the new £13.8 million Redcar Leisure Centre The Council's Cabinet will meet on Tuesday, May 12 with a recommendation to approve the award of a contract to a preferred contractor for the first stage of the detailed design build contract for the new sports and leisure centre. If the recommendation is approved this will allow the detailed design stage to start and, following a period of consultation, it is then expected this stage will be completed by November with the publication ...
At their AGM Sefton Lib Dems voted for who should serve on which bit of the council. Other groups give this power to the Leader, we trust our members. All elections are carried out by STV or AV as appropriate. A full list is lodged on the download part of the website which can be accessed via the button on the left of that site.
The Governments response to a European Court ruling that its DNA database of 4.5 million people is illegal, is to time limit the keeping of records for innocent and cleared citizens. The Government says it is because offenders are likely to re-offend within that timescale, thus missing the point completely that the "unfair" and illegal records are for those proven innocent or not even charged! What the Government is effectively saying to its citizens is, "OK, we couldn't prove it this time, but we think you will commit a crime - so we're going to take the evidence now so ...
One of the great successes of Sefton alternative weekly waste collection has been the introduction of the weekly food waste pick up which is done with other recyclable material. Sefton has seen a significant increase in recycling since our wheelie bin system was introduced. Initially there were many (Tory) knockers of the policy-although they never produced a budget amendment to fund the multi million gap that would arise if it were scrapped. in particular we have out performed neighbouring authorities by reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill-and hence have a lower tax bill from the government. You ...
According to the list of Assembly Business next week, the Welsh Lib Dems are set to attempt to overturn the Government's introduction of Top-Up fees. The motion, tabled by Peter Black for debate on Wednesday reads:The National Assembly for Wales:Calls on the Welsh Assembly Government to reverse its decision to scrap the tuition fees grant.This is interesting because it raises the very real
@joannejacobs ahhh, some new media to consume, but can't figure out how to roll this into our report... yet
It appears inevitable that the next General Election will leave the country with a radically changed electoral map. The combination of an economic crisis, a discredited and divided Labour Government, and an underlying desire for 'change' looks certain to make the 2010 General Election the most significant this century. I intend to write two articles which I hope will prompt debate inside Liberal Democrat circles about how our party can best prepare for the dual challenge of winning at the expense of Labour, whilst ensuring that so many seats won since 1997 are not lost to a rising Conservative tide. ...
@joannejacobs don't know of any Pinky and the Brain connection to #poit but I may have missed something {:-)}
As you will have guessed I left my camera behind at the launch as was dependent on my phone to take the photos. I had popped in earlier in the week to look at the set up and so have some pictures from my earlier visit. The bikes Southport has chosen are English built Pashley's as ridden by Miss Redgrave in the film 101 Dalmatians -well not exactly because the model we have chosen is the one used by the Royal Mail posties.
Taking real action to tackle the recession locally - Allan backs Vince Cable's plan - the Tories vetoed Lib Dem suggestions to set up a local recession partnership to find real solutions to real problems Keeping the opt out from EU legislation for Clitheroe's firemen - working time directive could see the end of our retained firemen Providing the affordable housing that many Clitheroe residents so badly need - we needed over 250 in 2008, the Tories provided just 34 Making sure that there are no cuts in care for our elderly people - David Cameron says he will freeze ...
From our popular culture correspondent Peter Hough While listening to Radio 2's 'Sounds of the Sixties' last Saturday, my wife and I got a shock. We thought we knew everything about our leader, so we couldn't believe our ears. There was presenter, Brian Matthews saying: "Well that was 'River Man' by Nick Clegg. "Surely Matthews meant Nick Drake? Or did he know something we didn't? So was Mr Clegg really the cult legend who supposedly died in 1974? Allready I was thinking along the lines of 'conspiracy theory', and wondering if there was a book in it... Then we did ...
John Newbigin just referenced an interesting initiative http://www.culturemondo.org/ at #psm2009
pondering public service media at #psm2009 in context of Power of Information Taskforce work #poit
Southport as a Cycle Town took and ride forward yesterday with the launch of the visitors cycle hire scheme. The Chairman of Cycle England cut the tape on the Hire Centre which is based at the Eco Centre. Several hotels are involved in the scheme and we were told this is the first scheme of its type in England. My colleague Simon Shaw is seen with Fred Weaver's super lightweight fold up bike.
In the third in a series of looking at each of the regions (and nations) for the European Elections I today examine London.
This is a Government absolutely, completely, convinced of its own virtue and rightness. They've discussed the issues (or Gordon's told everyone what to think) and that's enough to them. The fortress mentality is obvious: everyone else is against them. They're all wrong and vindictive to boot. If you're unpopular, you might want to listen a little. Labour is stranded around 28% in the polls - about the same vote as they got in the disasterous 1983 General Election, so you might think they'd be listening for all they're worth. But no. Brown looks certain to go down in history as ...
I was a bit grumpy about the tenth anniversay stuff for the Welsh Assembly yesterday, largely because I know we are going to go through it all again on Tuesday as we commemorate the first Assembly Plenary session and then will see all the programmed Assembly activities for the next year rebranded with a big ten.We are not going to spend any extra money you understand but we are going to get out
You would have thought that the government had enough to do, sorting out the economy, taking care of the Gurkhas and reforming MPs expenses. But no: they want to take over the beautiful game. Today's Times carries the news that Culture Secretary and Everton supporter Andy Burnham wants English clubs who qualify for the Champions [...]
Two articles drop into my inbox this morning bringing news of Lib Dem administrations on two councils north of the Trent. Firstly Sheffield where Lib Dems are celebrating a year in control of the Council, and where the local newspaper has written a long, balanced article about what has been done in that time. So what have the Lib Dems done for Sheffield? They have certainly been busy and, at the end of the first year, have produced a list of more than 50 decisions, ranging from multi-million pound strategies to community projects. It wasn't long before they were deciding ...
Now I am not the most IT literate of people but even I know that hard drives retain information you think you have deleted and that the only safe way to dispose of it is to smash the thing with a hammer. I was less than assured this morning therefore to read that researchers have found sensitive information for shooting down intercontinental missiles as well as bank details and NHS records on old computers. You would think that if people are able to work out how to intercept and destroy a scud missile then they would also be aware enough ...
Someone left an anonymous comment on the blog yesterday pointing to a Youtube video which you can watch by following the link. In the video it "tries" to prove that Hitler had a Muslim division in the SS and personally I think it is just propaganda and it isn't actually true. The Grand Mufti which was Yaser Arafat's uncle was meant to be the man who worked with Hitler to create the SS and personally if it is true then this is another piece of evidence that gets added to the pile of evidence that shows a minority are destroying ...
Went for a stroll in the early evening to Victory Park. At the bottom is a nice new play area. The workmen were labouring over it for a while and there were times when you thought it'd never be finished. Alas there's now natural play with sand and scoops, a nice wide swing and the usual slide. It's got a good feel to it and certainly it always seems in use when I pass. From the looks on their faces, the young people seem to enjoy it. During a recent Neighbourhood partnership open meeting there was some concern about people ...
This is the Press's take: "Rajesh Gill, an independent day trader, has won £20m in damages after being systematically defrauded by one of the world's largest brokerages"This is mine: "Trader so incompetent that he lacked the ability to work out for himself whether he was making money manages to claim outrageous profits on the basis of trades he 'would have made' for the last 8 years"Despite the incompetence, mendacity and greed of Matthew Bomford, the broker involved; despite the probably high commissions (although 9 months of 100 trades a day producing £2.6m in commission only works out at about £15 ...
Yesterday I was reminiscing about myself on the day after the last Westminster General Election. Well with news coverage over recent days I've also been reminiscing about a different day from 2005, the day of my Parliamentary Candidates Appraisal Day. Looking at that group of four potential approved candidates now they included the PPC for the target West Coast seat Katy Gordon PPC for Glasgow North, the 'go to' Lib Dem blogger for many in the MacBloggosphere in myself and the minister of the moment Rev Scott Rennie. The group of four on that day was a group not backward ...
Poor Alix Mortimer. She's relocated to the 'Nu Lab', otherwise known as Manchester - the Government's Laboratory for all all things politically.. er... Lavatory. This time it's a trial of ID cards. She covers the subject - and her reaction - here. Meanwhile, I'm thinking... how on earth do you sell someone an ID card? Snappy Snaps Guy: Hello Madam. Can I interest you in an ID Card? Me: What is it? Snappy Snaps Guy: It's a piece of plastic with your name and picture on it, and the details are stored on the Database. Me: Okay. What does it ...
Attacking the Governments announcement that from this autumn people in Manchester will be able to apply for an ID Card, Chris Huhne described the scheme as "crazy". Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary said, "It is crazy to fritter away billions of pounds on an unnecessary and intrusive ID card scheme during the biggest crisis in public finances for a generation." Chris...
So in the end UK Ministers showed their true colours and did the bare minimum to comply with the ruling of the European Courts. The proposal to keep the genetic profiles of hundreds of thousands of innocent people are to be kept on the national DNA database for up to 12 years in a decision which seems to be designed to sidestep the European human rights ruling that the "blanket" retention of suspects' data is unlawful. Jacqui Smith's plans to keep the DNA profiles of innocent people who are arrested but not convicted of minor offences for six years. This ...
Today is the last day for nominations to go in. As of tomorrow, the candidates will all be in place and the race will be on! Perhaps it's time to talk about specific policies and actions that I will support if you elect me as the councillor for the Kirkby Stephen division? Let's start with roads.Cumbria County Council is planning to spend £10,488 million in the coming year. or in round figures, £10.5 half million. That's out of a total budget of just over £342 million. About 3%.If your house is in band D, you will pay Cumbria £1,140 per ...
The new timetables are available from the South Glos Council website's Bus Timetables page. Look down the page, and you will see that each bus that has changed has two timetables - look for the ones labelled "10 May 2009 - until further notice" Quick links for our most popular local buses: 327 & 329 Yate - Winterbourne - Bristol 342 Chipping Sodbury - Yate - Bristol 482 & 483 Chipping Sodbury - Cribbs Causeway 581 Hanham - Chipping Sodbury 620 Tetbury - Bath 622 Chipping Sodbury - Cribbs Causeway 680 Yate - UWE - Filton College 689 Yate - ...
I recently had the good fortune to gain possession of two comic books from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE - the grouping of centrist European parties, including our very own Liberal Democrats). They follow the exciting adventures of heroic liberal MEP Elisa Correr as she exposes illegal arms exports and sorts out the continent's energy problems, all the while evading the attentions of thugs along with corrupt politicians and businessmen. The first story I have is Operation Red Dragon, the second is The Aida Protocol. I was all set to rip them to shreds (blogging-wise). Dodgy-second ...
First, credit where it's due - getting a leaflet out to every house in Britain in under a fortnight is not an easy logistical thing to do. I assume that the Royal Mail were more co-operative than they usually are to us political campaigners at election time, but even so, the Governments have done a good job on physically getting it out. They don't often do this, so you would think that the leaflet itself would be useful and relevant and would make people want to read it. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case. However, it does ...
BLDGBLOG writes: Still embedded somewhere in the shores of California, buried by more than a century of sand, are lost hydroelectric machines.
What, exactly has Manchester done to deserve being the Government's testing ground for unpopular schemes? We've just gone through a referendum on whether or not we want to pay a congestion charge in order to get vital improvements to public transport (answer: no we don't, especially when other areas get their public transport without a stonking tax to go with it). Now we're to pilot the ID card scheme on a "voluntary" basis. It looks like Labour see Manchester in the same way in which the Tories used to see Scotland. Now there's a lot about this which simply doesn't ...
Cameron calls for general election in angry Commons clash Tory leader David Cameron today challenged the Prime Minister to call a general election, warning the Government was in "terminal decline". Well i for one say bring it on, i think we are ready for any challange.We will never be in a better position to offer real challange. [...]
So news reached me this morning that Labour have decided to scrap the end of key stage 2 science test, but only the science test. How cowardly is that?The key stage two tests in recent years have helped to drain teachers of their professional knowledge, believing that a test will give them a better understanding of the children in their class rather than their own knowledge and expertise.This
Join us in demanding action against this. We are in the process of looking into community clean ups. Your welcome to join with us. If you need help in your area call us.
You know. That one. The one championed all over the right-wing internet and even alluded to at yesterday's PMQs by a Tory backbencher who pointed out that more people want Brown to resign than voted for him. It's a neat point, since Brown's only mandate is the one his constituents gave him, and any comeback referring to the size of his constituency vis-a-vis the internet-going public will just invite restatement of that fact. The terms of The Petition must make it one of the most brusque documents ever submitted to the Number 10 website: "We the undersigned petition the Prime ...
Well what a great headline from the telegraph. But are we ready for power, should we now be out fine tuning our key policies. Have we taken that step back looked at our selves and said yes we are ready. I went to one of the hustings or road show what ever you wish to call them [...]
Thu 7th
06:59Never properly implemented and too timid in the first place: Labour's policies for improving schools...
Illustration by S. Kambayashi I found this on my daily trawls through the net what do you think care to make any comments? NO ONE knows children better, or has their interests more at heart. So education reforms that put power in the hands of parents have an obvious appeal. Arm them with hard facts about how [...]
I have known the Rev. Scott Rennie for several years. In addition to being an active Minister of the Church of Scotland he has also been an active member of the Liberal Democrats. Over that time he has had to face up to the fact that he is homosexual. I put it in those terms, because Scott comes from a very conservative religious background that refused to countenance that there was any validity in gay relationships. As Stephen Fry rather eloquently put it, the crisis of being gay is the exclusion because of love, and Scott felt very thoroughly excluded. ...
Well above is a Link to an overview document,if your a tenant give me a comment. The facts! are you getting what you felt was put on the table. We have seen the demise of one company are we just looking at a rehash of the old. I have met with the management and the chief [...]
British society is perceived to be more unequal than ever with socio-economic status having as much if not more of an effect on a child's future than ever before. The link between social and educational inequality has been assumed in policy for many years, with a good education seen almost universally as a way of accessing a better quality of life. This may well still be true, particularly in areas where education is not universal, but it now seems that the reforms that were introduced in western developed nations over the last 30 years have served to exacerbate the problem ...
Bye bye Derek!
1985 was the year when trends started in the early `80s reached their glorious natural conclusions – in hindsight there's an air of sweet finality about it. For swing it was the win for Norway that is played in parties and weddings across the land Denmark also entered a `busier` swinging number without the thorough clarity of [...]
